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Martin Long
Martin Long is one of the, perhaps the most, many prominent members of the pseudo-aristocracy largely running the town of Ewing Bay through monopolies over the town's industries; legal and illegal. Long, however, is a rare example of one of the pseudo-aristocracy being able to court the image of a sophisticate easily and naturally; this was rather down to his presence in a family very much at home in the upper echelons of society and his own interest in pre-war works of literature related to organised crime and other work featuring daring, dashing rogues as anti-heroes. As a result, Long has largely adopted the values and style of some of these characters, fictional or otherwise, as part of his own persona, all the while attempting to reconcile his own often immoral behaviour with the largely Christian-oriented teachings he had been brought up with since childhood; an example of the hypocrisy of the pseudo-aristocracy personified as one of the few "winners" in the post-war world. Biography Martin Long was born in 2245, the only son of one of the lucky few privileged families of the pseudo-aristocracy in Ewing Bay. His birth was in the immediate aftermath of a great wave of change; following a solid two prior decades of bitter infighting in the town, the pseudo-aristocracy had been forced to take great pains accruing a more moral appearance; that is, attempting to cultivate an air of refined taste and deeply religious values, the latter of which was barely even a footnote in the pseudo-aristocracy's minds. Thus, Long endured both the growing insistence on refinement and Christian teachings, increasingly becoming more and more fashionable as time went on. From the outside-in, it seemed that everything in Long's childhood was perfect; with enough financial support to acquire a useful and far beyond adequate education and a comfortable abode, one might have expected the young Long's childhood to be a veritable cakewalk; far from it, however. Long's childhood was a particularly challenging one, with a mother addicted to widely available Med-X and a father completely uninterested in his son's development and accomplishments, not to mention a crushingly rigorous regimen of work intended to acclimate the young Long into a business mindset, all helped to forge the loathing that Long felt for others around him. Owing to his mother's penchant for raving and ranting whilst high on Med-X and his father's cold manner when in the presence of his son, Long found himself unable to turn to his parents for moral guidance; instead, he turned largely to pre-war literature related to strong pre-war crime lords, both fictional and real, to counter his own feelings of inadequacy and fears of weakness; the young Martin Long, despite the quite frequent Bible studies that were, of course, practically mandatory for the then quite fashionable Christian-centric education, sought to emulate these powerful figures and thus adopted the mannerisms of these characters; largely behind closed doors to avoid the wrath of his father and avoid ruffling the feathers of the increasingly "polite" society of Ewing Bay. Other children from various pseudo-aristocracy families of similar standing often found the cold and condescending attitude of Long to be both annoying and insulting, though Long was particularly careful to avoid bringing the wrath of his father and other adults upon himself by performing any acts that might be openly interpreted as bullying. This continuing caution served the young Long well; though despised by most children, many of the adults found him polite, courteous and above all respectable; the latter attribute was most wanted by the ever determined Long, keen to climb the social ladder. The few friends accrued by Long viewed him as a strong ally, capable of bludgeoning his enemies; figuratively and literally. By his mid-teens, Long had become a well-versed and literate young gentleman adequately prepared for the cut-throat business world of Ewing Bay and the surrounding communities reliant in some form or another on the town's burgeoning fishing industry, not to mention it's ever-in-demand smuggling industry. Long was more often than not found at his father's side, working as a lieutenant of sorts in the family company, Long Haul Fisheries, and found himself at first working as little more than a schmoozer, pandering to the more easily flattered in the rich community at cocktail parties and shaking hands and reading psalms with the poorer community at church or in the many warehouses dotting the town's harbour. This sort of work soon became routine for Long and, whilst relatively content with this rather sedentary lifestyle, Long began to increasingly yearn for the more "hands-on" work that some of his father's lackeys took part in when dealing with certain problem-people; that is, he looked to indulge his more thuggish side. And indulge it he did, on the rare few occasions that his father felt that it was right for his son to take part in them; Long found himself watching brutal beatings of rebellious dockworkers and striking fishermen and reminding them, in the aftermath, of their place; either with a soft-spoken threat and a kick to the already battered head. On the rare few occasions where said problem-people became enough of a problem to warrant a permanent silencing, Long would more often than not be in attendance; in fact, Long relished the opportunity to keep his trigger finger subtle, participating in dockside executions at the dead of night; much to the surprised content of his father's lackeys and the odd, grim-faced approval of his father; Long even participated in after work activities with his father's workers; notably in the town's brothels, though increasingly few and far between with the growing influence of Christian values, where his purported coolness and calmness gave way to a far more, in the words of one employee, ravenous passion. His late teens and late 20s were spent carrying out his father's orders and gathering on-the-job experience in regards to persuasive technique and garnering allies; naturally exploring all avenues of this, seeking to take over from his father with any and all means in mind. Aged 23 when Long's mother died, an event that was deeply hurtful for Long regardless of his mother's often drug-addled condition, Long found himself increasingly taking over the reigns of Long Haul Fisheries as his father began to soften in remorse and mourning. His father's attempts to both open and open up to his son came too late as Long addressed his father in the same cold manner as he himself had once been addressed with. His 20s and 30s became a blur of growing activity; Long Haul Fisheries bought up smaller fisheries and added them to a growing business empire from which both his fishing and smuggling operations could continue, the latter being naturally kept more hush-hush. Throughout this time, Long became infamous for his use of far more open heavy-handed tactics; beatings and daylight executions of supposedly revolutionary citizens created ripples throughout the poorer community, with many listening to the fiery sermons of Mortimer Kersey taking aim at the increasingly arrogant Long. Long, however, didn't care; he still held the favour of the pseudo-aristocracy throughout the Ewing Bay, no doubt thanks to the many parties that he held and attended at his residency in Ewing Bay; so long as he held their favour, it seemed, he would not risk losing control of his growing business empire. With their support, smaller businesses were swallowed up, with those in charge more often than not taken aboard as retainers for Long; even with the growing problems presented by the Water Tribals, Long still felt secure enough to continue purchasing fisheries and expanding his influence in the town, notably those unable to compete with the larger fisheries thanks to the Water Tribals cutting off the vital coastal waters. Despite his father's tragic death in 2079, an event that once again impacted Long heavily in spite of his father's early coldness, Long has continued to lead his business empire through the years, swallowing up every minor fishery in Ewing Bay. Surrounded as he is with those able to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle akin to his, at least as far as luxury goes in the post-war world, it's perhaps understandable that Long has since become quite careless in regards to his standing in the town; with the majority of minor fisheries under his control and a sizeable workforce also doubling as a militia, Long has ever right to feel confident that no one would dare topple him from his position of power in the town. In the modern day, 2287, Long has a life quite fit for any budding post-war capitalist; from the cocktail parties to the consorting with prostitutes, Long has become one of the most powerful men in Ewing Bay, albeit behind the scenes with a facade of gentlemanly refinement covering his more sinister side. What a wonderful life. Personality A fairly pragmatic, no-nonsense individual, with a cool and collected attitude to practically any situation, has become a staple of the budding post-war capitalist that is Martin Long; whether it be holding a champagne flute at an evening celebration or firing his snub-nosed revolver at a hostile worker, Long rarely seems out of place, or out of style, in any environment. And that is perhaps what Long has always attempted to cultivate; an air of refinement and strength. For the most part, this show largely reflects Martin's true persona; his childhood years, whilst quite privileged, given his parent's standing in the town, were spent largely as bullying, domineering child being polite and courteous only to his betters. His particularly grim childhood, spent in the presence of a loveless father and an addict mother may well have shaped his domineering nature, but being in the presence of pseudo-sophisticates and works of pre-war literature also, inevitably, shaped his "charming" gentleman's side. Equipment *'Aged Business Suit:' An aged grey business suit, surprisingly rather well looked after, replete with tie and white handkerchief, and an equally old fedora serves as the most common attire Long is more often than not seen wearing. Hoping to capture the popularised pre-war image of both a legitimate businessman and crime boss, Martin adopted the style, not to mention the mannerisms, of popular criminal masterminds of the pre-war world; both fictional and real world. *'Snubnose .44 Revolver:' A particularly effective .44 caliber revolver, Martin Long's favored sidearm is never separated from him, carried around in a chest holster hidden beneath his otherwise dapper looking suit's jacket. Martin's reasoning behind this is that it is an occupational necessity; no doubt brought about by his rather bad habit of making multiple enemies at any given time. Gallery Snubnose Revolver.png|Snubnose .44 Revolver Category:Characters